"Give us that story of the old Monk,
which you told last night to the youth," Fr. Terry Gallagher urged
the Venerable TenzinPriyadarshi

at the Scarboro Missions
interfaith gathering of over fifty people on Saturday, March 7.

The Dalai Lama was walking in the garden of
the Dharamsala centre in India, when he came upon an
old Monk trimming the trees. He asked the Monk about the many years he
was jailed by the Chinese in Tibet.

"I
was in great danger," the old Monk said.

"Your
body was in danger? Your life?"

"Much
bigger danger than that."
"What could that be?"

"I
was in danger of losing my compassion for the Chinese."

Stunned, we retreated into silence,
contemplating this great forbearance and wisdom. How to achieve and
practice the compassion that is central to Buddhist faith? He led us in a
guided meditation that demonstrates it. I hope he forgives me for
recording it, so I can bring it to you.

Guided meditation of Ven.

Priyadarshi:

BELLS RING

"Take
a comfortable posture, let your body relax.

Become
aware of the breath, in-breath and out-breath.

Still or
quiet your mind.

Let
give rise to a positive thought, or aspiration:

Such as
love, kindness, or compassion.

They are
innate qualities, not foreign to you.

Embody
them.

Embody
love, kindness, and compassion.

Imagine you
are surrounded by individuals that you love and deeply care about, family
and friends.

Recognize
their faces and their names.

Sending
forth a ray of light emerging from your heart,

carrying
your positive aspirations,

imagine
that it touches the heart of each one of them.

They are
delighted to receive your well wishes,

In turn
they send you theirs.

Accept them
and simply rest your mind in the state of joy.

Imagine you
are surrounded by strangers, people you are indifferent towards,

people you
meet crossing the street, in a grocery stores, bus stop, airport, etc.

Perhaps at
some time some of them have been kind to you.

Simply
acknowledge their presence in your life.

Imagine
that the positive aspirations from your heart touch each one of them.

Imagine
that they are delighted to receive them,

and in turn
send back to you well wishes. Accept them.

Simply rest
your mind in this state of joy and delight.

Imagine
being surrounded by individuals whom you dislike, or perhaps even hate,
who may have caused you harm, or perhaps you may have harmed them.

Recognize
their faces. Acknowledge their presence in your life.

If they
have harmed you, imagine they are asking for your forgiveness.

Imagine
that they are happy to receive it, and in turn, they send you their well
wishes.

Accept
them, and so rest your mind in the state of joy and equanimity.

Return to
your breath once again.

When you
are ready, simply open your eyes and become present."

BELLS RING

He also listened to us and answered many
questions. When the conversation turned to interspirituality, he simply
said that although he was born to a Hindu Brahman family, and became a
Buddhist Monk, he never left Hinduism. In fact, his Buddhist mentors
encouraged him to learn his own tradition, and he spent four years in a
Rama Krishna Ashram, learning his Hindu heritage and the Sanskrit language
so he could read the original texts. A brilliant student, he later studied
philosophy and physics in the West, and became the Buddhist Chaplain at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the preeminent US school
of technology.

And now he has established the

Dalai
Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, with satellite
centres in Mexico, India and Italy. As he explained to us, it has three
main themes:

The ethics of responsibility

Leadership, the training of global leaders

Holistic education, of both heart and mind

Above all, he has been

ordained
a Buddhist Monk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is his spiritual
mentor. It is all the more significant that he returns to the Toronto
interfaith community from time to time, particularly to work with our
young people, when you look at his far reaching international involvements,
including being a Knight
of the Order of Saint Francis of Assissi, at

Finally, he told us, "Like the Golden
Rule, one of the core things is to look at the promotion of human values
that may have their source in religion, but can be adapted by individuals
who are not particularly religious….We are excluding huge segments of
population if we speak only in the fervour of religiosity. We need to
promote common human values, our common humanity, which is common to
religions and transcends them. … We truly need to understand how to be
inclusive, how to include people in this conversation and dialogue, in the
spiritual journey together, regardless of what tradition, faith they
adhere to, if any."